The LTER Network

The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network was created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1980 to conduct research on ecological issues that can last decades and span huge geographical areas.

The largest and longest-lived ecological network in the United States, LTER provides the scientific expertise, research platforms, and long-term datasets necessary to document and analyze environmental change.

For more than three decades, the Network has generated rigorous site-based scientific research that has led to important findings on regional and continental scales. The Network brings together a multi-disciplinary group of more than 2000 scientists and graduate students. The 2014 LTER Annual Report contains important findings and research highlights from around the network.Read more